Am I crazy?

[Recon427]

Ok.... so I have read that the cooling system parts for our cars are made out of plastic and they are prone to being broken.

So, why not have them machined out of aluminum?

I contacted several companies with this proposal and I am waiting to hear back from them [should be by the end of this week]....however, if the cost is not too high, do you think it would be crazy of me to go this extra step or should I just stick to good old plastic?

[1996 328ti]

There are aluminum radiators for 2.8, 3.0 and 3.2.

[Recon427]

Yes but those are radiators. I am talking about the two parts that are hard to get to. One is near the bottom of the engine past the intake manifold and the other is at the back of the engine. I can't find any made out of aluminum or some metal.

[roadrash]

Yes, you're referring to the two infamous plastic fittings that are prone to failure. See this thread for more info.

Just last week, I also inquired with a local company and he agreed that the cost of any metal replacement part would likely be far more than what people would be willing to pay.

But if you get a reasonably solid estimate on a price, I'll go back to my contact and see if he thinks that he could beat that price.

[FMD]

The plastic pieces are under $10 and don't need to be replaced often, there's no market for metal replacements and it isn't cost-effective.

[MacUser]

Would people pay $100 for a metal part that wouldn't likely fail? If it would increase the reliability and decrease the likelihood of stranding me or blowing a head gasket, count me in! I'd like to pay a lot less than that, though.

[tiFreak]

I think someone did look into this a while ago, they ended up being way to expensive for most people to bother so the project was scrapped

[MacUser]

Since we're on the topic, those plastic parts changed over the years, didn't they? I thought I read somewhere that the 1995s and early 1996s might be different than later tis. I remember someone wrote up a cooling system rebuild and realoem.com listed the wrong plastic part for his ti. Can anyone shed any light on this?

[Recon427]

Hi MacUser,

The forum you are referring to is the Cooling system rebuild, link: http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18066

He needed a different hose. Realoem.com listed the wrong hose for his 318ti.

[MacUser]

Hey! Thanks! I have an 03/96 ti, so I'm affected. I guess I'll buy both hoses, only $5.50 each.

[spidertri]

I looked into this and made a thread about it not too long ago. I was quoted ~$150 a piece for the parts, the price could drop if there was a serious demand. But for that money its just not worth it.

The plastic parts last 100,000 to 120,000 miles, what is the life expectancy of the ti?


this one http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=28636

[cooljess76]

+1

You could spend $15 and replace them every 100k miles, or you could spend over $200 to have aluminum ones made, but you'll likely have to remove them anyway after 100k miles to replace the o-rings. Most of us won't even have these cars long enough to put 100k miles on them.

[Recon427]

Alright already.....it would be cool though to have all the parts made out of aluminum.... Make the engine bay look nice. But I guess that is just aesthetics.

Anyways, thanks for your guys input.... I will post the prices on here when I here back from the two different shops.